The PSP HomeBrew Apps (Pt. 1)

In the past, we’ve already wrote two articles about putting custom firmwares on your PSP.

To summarize: custom firmware is a firmware that’s developed by the community, not by Sony. These CFWs usually have all the possibilities of an official firmware, with a few benefits. Probably the biggest benefit of them all is being able to run homebrew.

The PSP homebrew apps are applications that are written by users. On custom firmwares, pieces of code don’t need a Sony identification ‘stamp’.

But there are tons of pieces of homebrew apps for PSP out there, so what can we do with homebrew? What’s out there and what’s good?

Dear MakeUseOf reader, will you sing the ABC with me? (part 1: A to E)

A

…is for artists; those who ache for expression.

Whether you want to draw a note (I always thought it easier to draw something in my mind than to write it down) or paint the Mona Lisa, there are various paint programs on the PSP that will make do.

One of the most famous is PSPaint! 3. Currently this is the most advanced painting application, which allows you to use a semi-wide selection of tools, and even supports multiple layers!

You don’t have to expect a portable Photoshop, but hey, this is a handheld we’re talking about, and for a handheld this is one hell of a great application.

You should also keep a close eye on CrazyPaint, not quite finished yet, but very promising.

D

…is for dictionary, to jump from one language to the next.

PSPDictionary is an online AND offline translator, so you can even use it without an internet connection. Currently, the application supports five languages – English, French, German, Spanish and Italian – but I’m sure this number will grow over time.

The dictionary has a very simple design, lets you easily flick between the on and offline modes and even keeps a (limited) translation history.

You can download PSPDictionary v2.0.0 here, and have a dictionary in your pocket at all time!

E

…is for emulation, nostalgia not easily lost.

For some reason, people just can’t seem to forget great games like Pacman, Mario and Zelda. Shouldn’t you just move on?

No, that would be blasphemous.

There are several good emulators available that run on the PSP, and a lot of the oldschool gaming platforms are supported.

gpSP is one of the best Nintendo GBA emulators for PSP. This will run all ROMs for the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Advance. You can download gpSP mod 20090210here.

Snes9xTYLsmcm is a great SNES – Super Nintendo Entertainment System – emulator. Download the latest version here.

And last but not least, DosBox PSP should be able to run all of your oldschool MS-DOS games. The platform still gives occasional errors, though these are almost eliminated in this last version (v 03/08/08).

That’s where we’ll leave it for today. Take your time trying these PSP homebrew apps out, give your own homebrew suggestions down below in the comments section, and be sure to check back next week for Part 2.